Science

Kents Hill’s Science and Technology program provides college-bound students with the opportunities to grow as problem solvers, critical thinkers, and scientists. The program offers these opportunities in a wide variety of courses. In these courses, students will be challenged to design products, complete traditional laboratory experiments, give course presentations, develop scientific writing skills, apply course content to real-world questions, and develop opinions regarding scientific ethics. Each student must take at least four credits of Science to graduate. Credits must include a life science course, an environmental science course and at least one course in the core laboratory courses of chemistry or physics. Kents Hill offers Science courses at the 200-600 levels.

Featured Course: Maine Field Studies

The first part of this course, Ecology of Maine, is a place-based environmental studies course that focuses on understanding the interactions between living and nonliving parts of ecosystems in Maine. In this part of the course, students will explore ecology while building research skills and developing a sense of place. There will be field research through three ecological surveys on forest communities, soil, and invasive species. Skills taught in this topic include data collection, spreadsheets, tree identification, field methods (pacing, sampling transect/quadrat, soil texture analysis, invasive species survey methods), and science communication (informal presentations, formal writing).

The second part of this course focuses on sustainability which is the study of how humans can build new relationships with the natural world that stop further environmental degradation and regenerate damaged ecosystems. Emphasis will be on developing a land ethic as a basis for decision making, understanding systems of power and influence, and identifying opportunities to be an agent of change for sustainability. After exploring various land ethics, the focus will shift to understanding the limits of Earth systems in sustaining life on Earth. The course will culminate in a habitat restoration project, offering students the opportunity to practice local solutions to global problems.

sCIENCE Course offerings